Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Could It Be . . . Satan?

Excuse me for not getting really excised about Rick Santorum's remarks about Satan and his malign influence on individuals, not to mention nations.

The news media and pols are all aflutter because Rick made some remarks on this subject to a church group. He said nothing at all that is outside mainstream biblical orthodoxy. As I have noted before, I have my share of important disagreements with Roman Catholicism, but this isn't one of them. The Catholic Church believes in a fallen angel known as Lucifer and Satan. So do Protestant evangelicals. On that, we are agreed.

If you were to ask American presidents in history, you just might find out that quite a few of them believed that Satan existed - a personal devil. Some might not, some might have viewed him more as a symbolic principle of evil, but others surely fell fully within orthodoxy on the subject.

But today, having such a belief is seen as disqualifying from public office, and a political candidate who has the temerity to believe such a thing belongs in the loony bin and not the Oval Office - if you believe the twaddle coming out of the media, certain Democrats and those who feed this frenzy.

I think its about time we trot out Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the tenets of Liberation Theology and just how it runs afoul of biblical orthodoxy. Perhaps its about time we start digging into some of the far-left's wacko, New-Agey beliefs. Let's throw reincarnation into the mix, along with agnosticism and atheism. I've heard of a few over the years believing in UFO encounters. Let's talk about it. Perhaps E.T. has a standing invitation to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.

As you can probably tell, I'm very irked at this current move to force traditional Christians into a ghetto of crackpots separated from the American body politic. I think we'd better slap back, and slap back hard. This has nothing to do with turning the other cheek. This is a political battle that's being engaged, and the gauntlet has been thrown down. Let's pick it up and use it in dislocating a few jawbones.

9 comments:

Do you think that your response is remotely Christian? I'm asking a serious question. I'm not sure, and I wonder what you would say. Something tells me that Jesus would strongly disapprove of your response. But I am willing to be corrected. Perhaps you can break my jaw to show me how stupid I am.

I sort of anticipated a response like yours from a few, and rest assured, I have no desire to break your jaw.

Sometimes I use the art of rhetoric to make a point. Remember Samson using the jawbone of an ass to slay the enemies of Israel? That was in my mind, albeit purely in a rhetorical fashion to make a point. My jawbone is truth - told bluntly and forcefully to counter the lies of the media, the far-left and honestly, both seem to me to be enemies of the Gospel.

They're making fun of Santorum for believing in the devil, which is a quite orthodox belief in Christianity. I say respond by pointing out the TRUTH about President Obama's theological beliefs grounded in the heresy of Liberation Theology, nurtured through 20 years at Jeremiah Wright's United Church of Christ, which itself has numerous positions these days that run afoul of biblical Christianity. Quite a few liberals denounce Christians, yet embrace Eastern mysticism, Unitarianism or outright atheism. Why not point that out, and explain what some of those beliefs are? Even in my own party, we have one candidate (a Mormon) who has been making some rather severe attacks against Rick Santorum. If he's going to mock Santorum, why not ask him why he believes Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer?

How to break the jawbones of the media? Cite an historical record of the beliefs of American presidents and demonstrate how ignorant they are of American history.

Are you getting my point yet? Sometimes in this culture thoroughly fogged over with lies, you have to use rather sharp words at times to cut through. The New Testament is full of examples.

One more example. Was Paul being un-Christlike when he wished the false teachers in Galatia would "mutilate themselves" when pushing circumcision and obeying the Law of Moses? I say no. He was making a rhetorical point.

My quibble is not about a belief in Satan, but rather ascribing the acts of sinful man to be the direct attack of Satan. Compared to conditions before the flood, we have a long way to go in reaching the pinnacle of our own evil potential, we don't have to point to Satan as the catalyst.

To clarify one remark I made in my above comment, the ignorance of some media on history and the beliefs of past presidents, not the ignorance of the presidents themselves. I badly worded my response there.

Anonymous - I think many can fall into the Flip Wilson meme, i.e. "the devil made me do it." Point well taken. Having said that, we shouldn't be dismissive of the influence of the demonic on people. It's real and quite biblical in that it happens. When you couple that with the sin nature, the results can be deadly.

Joel Griffith

I have been involved in media since 1978, primarily radio. Full time Christian ministry since 1988, including radio, apologetics, written publications, preaching and teaching. Why do I go by Solameanie online? Long story.
Follow me on Twitter. @solameanie

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